F2 Saudi Arabia: Liam Lawson wins in crash-filled sprint race
26th March 2022Calin’s Liam Lawson secured the sprint race win, in Saudi Arabia, after Prema’s Dennis Hauger was given a 10-second stop and go penalty for going into a closed pit lane.
How the race unfolded…
Formula 3’s, newly-promoted, world champion, Dennis Hauger (Prema) had an amazing launch off the line as the lights went out and left Van Amersfoort Racing’s Jake Hughes on the line to be swallowed by the pack. Despite some close calls, the field managed to go around the fast Jeddah Corniche Circuit unscathed to complete the first lap.
On lap 2, VAR’s Amaury Cordeel had found the wall along the quick flowing corners of 10, 11 and 12. Fortunately, the driver reported that he was okay before the Belgian climbed out of the car and escaped the track. The Mercedes safety car was then deployed to all the track marshals to clear the broken vehicle.
The safety car finally returned to the pit lane at the end of the sixth lap and Hauger got the race back underway. However, the safety car was quickly redeployed as Virtuosi Racing’s Jack Doohan and Carlin’s Logan Sargent had a coming together shortly after the final corner.
Despite being told the safety car will go through the pit lane, race control changed their mind and closed the pit lane. As a result of the two orders, Hauger ventured straight through the pit lane – as per the previous instruction, while the remaining drivers stayed out behind the safety car. However, the LED boards above the track showed the pit lane was closed.
Hauger was then investigated for entering the pit lane when it was declared closed and later given a 10-second stop/go penalty for the incident.
After the miscommunication, Trident’s Calan Williams was promoted to the lead of the race ahead of Hughes and Carlin’s Liam Lawson.
The safety car finally returned to the pits, again, at the end of lap 13 and Williams waited until the very last moment before he decided to bolt away. However, Hughes reacted very well and managed to steal the lead into turn two. As a result, Lawson picked up the scraps and pushed Williams down to P3.
At the end of lap 16, Williams dropped another place as Hitech’s Juri Vips gained third place on the exit of turn 27.
Seemingly suffering with worn soft tyres, Hughes had to give up the lead of the race as Lawson used his DRS down the pit straight and defended the inside line into turn one.
Hitech’s Marcus Armstrong was the last driver to retire from the race as the Hitech spun out and couldn’t get his car moving again. The Virtual Safety Car was then deployed as the track marshals removed the stranded car from the track.
The race went back to green-flag running for the final lap of the race.
While Lawson cleared Hughes, in second, the VAR driver came under immense pressure from Vips. The Estonian driver tried to make a move into the final corner but Hughes defended on the exit. However, the Hitech managed to steal P2 from Hughes on the line – separated by less than a tenth of a second.
Podium:
- Liam Lawson, Carlin
- Juri Vips, Hitech
- Jake Hughes, VAR
That’s it for the article: ‘F2 Saudi Arabia: Liam Lawson wins in crash-filled sprint race.’ What do you think, was Dennis Hauger’s penalty justified? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Formula Two here:
- F2 2022 Bahrain Feature Race: Theo Pourchaire wins after pitlane drama
- F2 2021 Feature Race: Oscar Piastri wins in Abu Dhabi Finale
- F2 Sprint Race 2: Guanyu Zhou secures win in Abu Dhabi
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.